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Australians’ Digital Lives Report

iPad magician

Can you do this with your iPad? Check out Simon Pierro on the Ellen show in Feb (9 million views) J

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_xhSQGKxO4

 

Australians’ Digital Lives Report

New report from ACMA (Aust. Communications and Media Authority) – a good resource for articles and reports. The lives of Australians are converging even further into their phones and data downloading almost doubled in the year to June 2014. 70% of Australians went online using a smartphone; 50% using a tablet. 92% of Australians use the internet with 81% having the internet at home. However, 1.1 million Australians have never been online, mostly aged over 65 years. In Sept 2014 Australia ranked 21st in the world on internet access. 10.9 million Australians made an e-commerce transaction (entertainment most popular, then fashion, then reading material). We are downloading more apps and participating in more blogs and online communities. 68% are using 3 or more devices to access the internet. Almost half of employed Australians are digital workers (5.7 million), using the internet to work away from the office.

Good short video: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/researchacma/Australians-embrace-a-digital-life

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/571535/1-1-million-aussies-never-accessed-internet/

 

Moderate use of video games linked to better behaviour

A study from Oxford University has found that kids who play video games in moderation (less than 1 hour a day) are not at risk of anti-social behaviour. They do better at school, are less aggressive and more emotionally stable. However, those who played for 3 hours or more were hyperactive, more likely to get into fights and to lose concentration. Kids who played Minecraft did not perform better academically but had better emotional health and social behaviour. A recent Griffith University study found better collaboration, problem solving and thinking skills among kids who played video games.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/video-games-linked-to-better-behaviour/story-fn59nlz9-1227288437259

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-04-01-poor-behaviour-linked-time-spent-gaming-not-types-games#

 

How Google picks new employees

Lazlo Bock of Google says that an increasing proportion of people hired at Google don’t have college degrees. Test scores don’t predict anything. Number 1 criteria used when evaluating candidates: Ability to learn – the ability to pick up new things, to learn on the fly, to find patterns in disparate pieces of information and take the next step. 2. Leadership – at every level,  including how to step back. 3.  Humility – openness to someone else having an even better idea than you.  4. Ownership – taking responsibility for solving problems and moving forward. 5. Expertise – but the other 4 attributes far outweigh expertise.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2014/04/07/how-google-picks-new-employees-hint-its-not-about-your-degree/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Online viewing habits in Australia

Interesting data about our devices and viewing habits….

 

Australian Online Landscape Review (Nielsen Report: data for Jan 2015)

18 011 000 people online; 50+ age group = 33.5% of online Australians; 2-34 yr olds = 38.2%; users spent an average 36 hours online in January; 3.2 billion streams watched; 63% of daily browses came from portable devices (smartphones more than tablets).

http://www.iabaustralia.com.au/uploads/uploads/2015-02/1424642400_d9371e6886fcee7b6731413517a15ecb.pdf

 

Top sites in Australia (March 2015)

1.Google.com.au 2. Google.com 3. Facebook 4. YouTube 5. Yahoo 6. eBay 7. Wikipedia 8. Linkedin 9. Twitter 10. Live.com 11. Amazon 12. news.com.au 13. Paypal 14. Bing 15. Gumtree 16. Commbank 17. smh.com.au 18. abc.net.au 19. realestate.com.au 20. Reddit 21. Pinterest 22. Instagram 23. bom.gov.au 24. imdb.com 25. Westpac

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/AU

 

Australian Multi-Screen Report Q3 2015 (Nielsen Report Dec 2014)

TV is still the centrepiece of viewing; Australians watch nearly 97 hrs per month of TV; internet is in 80% of homes; smartphones are the most common internet-connected devices in homes (91%) – tablets (60%); 74% of people aged 16+ own a smartphone; 45% of homes own tablets; 13.377 million watch some video on the internet each month (7h30m per month).

http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/reports/2014/multi-screen-report-q3-20141.html

 

Australian e-Generation Report (Nielsen Report Feb 2015)

2-15 yr olds spend av. 11h12m online each week; 13-15 yr olds = 18.7 hrs/wk; children go online at an increasingly younger age due to tablets, apps and smartphones; younger children use tablets; teens have all devices; 9 in 10 homes own laptops; 6 in 10 have wifi; 7 in 10 own tablets.

http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/news/2015/childs-play-connected-aussie-kids-spend-up-to-equivalent-of-three-school-days-online.html

 

Password reset

Web security firm SplashData analyses several million leaked passwords each year. Most popular in 2014 and 2013 was  ‘123456’ (in 2012, ‘password’ won). Other favourites; ‘qwerty’; ‘trustno1’; ‘letmein’; ‘abc123’. If ‘123456’ is too short, just add ‘78’. Eventually we’ll see the end of passwords. The Fujitsu Purse Wallet identifies the vein patterns on your hand and the Bionym Nymi wristband uses your heartbeat as a password.

http://splashdata.com/press/worst-passwords-of-2014.htm

 

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ed tech future Google internet YouTube

YouTube for kids and ICT news

YouTube for kids launching 23 Feb 2015

Free new app YouTube Kids – currently for Android only. The app will be separate to the main YouTube service. The homescreen will have 8 options including choices from US kids’ TV; popular song videos; educational programs; links to top videos. Searches can be typed or spoken and the site will be free of comments with a timer for parents to shut down the app. No announcements yet about a similar Australian roll-out – maybe it will happen at the same time.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/02/19/youtube-for-kids-new-android-app-out-feb-23/23707819/

 

Google to revamp products with 12-and-younger focus

Google processes 40 000 search queries per second and many users are children, so it is planning to create child-specific versions of its most popular products –YouTube, Search and Chrome. Children of Google employees use the Kids Studio room at Google HQ where they are encouraged to tinker with prototype projects.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/12/03/google-products-revamped-for-under-13-crowd/19803447/

 

The end may be nigh for keyboard, mouse and monitor

Microsoft’s Windows 10 will incorporate voice, gestures and holograms. “When people can talk to their tech, see 3D representations in the air and interact with media or docs by waving their hands, the long-term survival for the keyboard, mouse and monitor suddenly seems precarious” – Adriana Lee. Microsoft’s voice feature, Cortana will be part of Windows 10 and people will be able to talk to their computers, maybe en masse. Windows Holographic will also be available, via HoloLens goggles. Currently 90% of personal computers run Windows. Windows 10 will be released mid-year and upgrades will be free this year.

http://readwrite.com/2015/01/21/hololens-windows-10-holographic-cortana-microsoft

Windows 10 Hologram trailer – impressive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W97LCtOSXPY&feature=player_embedded

 

Google boss warns of “forgotten century” with emails and photos at risk

Google VP Vint Cerf (co-founder of the internet) warns that huge amounts of digitised material – images, videos, blogs, tweets, emails and official documents – may be lost forever because the programs needed to view them will become defunct. We face “a forgotten generation, or even a forgotten century” through “bit rot”. Cerf hopes that “digital vellum” can be used to preserve old software and hardware so that old files can be recovered. He says “if there are photos you really care about, print them out”.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/google-boss-warns-forgotten-century-email-photos-vint-cerf

 

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Internet Trends Report and The Conversation US

The Conversation launches US service

The acclaimed Australian news analysis website The Conversation launched its US service last week – following the UK launch last year. “The 3 newsrooms will work as one, sharing content and ideas from 14 000 academics. Australian academics and institutions will benefit from the increased global audience and opportunity for collaboration” – and readers will have increased access to quality information on current topics.

http://bit.ly/1wD90d0

https://theconversation.com/us

 

Technology improves higher learning – it doesn’t kill it

Gavin Moodie (RMIT) believes that MOOCs are unlikely to “disrupt” universities any more than print books did in early universities. Rather – “informal, open and online learning will be absorbed within exisiting universities to augment and improve their practices”. Interesting info about libraries and how they were changed by print…early libraries were closed to undergraduates – at Cambridge they were fined for entering them in the early 17th century! In the 18th century books were so numerous that a pedagogical role emerged for libraries, helping students navigate texts.

http://theconversation.com/technology-improves-higher-learning-it-doesnt-kill-it-29657

 

Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report 2014

The tech analyst’s influential report comes out annually mid year. She notes the biggest trend is towards mobile devices with sensors that enable users to share a huge range of information. This big data  can in turn be used to solve problems and create new products, but privacy and other rights could be compromised.

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/mary-meekers-2014-internet-trends-report-is-a-must-read-20140529-zrrdf.html

http://torquemag.io/mobile-devices-are-the-big-story-in-mary-meekers-2014-internet-trends-report/

 

Interesting insights:

 

* Internet users globally growing at less than 10% a year, but initiatives like Google’s Project Loon and Facebook’s Internet.org hope to increase this

* Mobile usage continues to grow strongly – 25% of all web usage

* 30% of all mobile users are now smartphone users

* Tablets are growing faster than PCs ever did

* Unbundling of web and mobile apps – users now want simple apps that do one thing well

* New smartphone sensors (eg. accelerometers, compasses, barometers, heart rate sensors, GPS etc) are fueling the Big Data Age; it is hard to analyse all this Big Data

* 34% of the digital universe is useful but only 7% is tagged

* Cybersecurity is getting harder

* Mobile interfaces are changing everything – transport (Uber), restaurants (Yelp), accommodation (Airbnb), music consumption (Spotify)

* Many developing countries leapfrogged the laptop/PC era and went straight to mobile

* Social networking is changing from broadcast to private sharing – rather than sharing a little with a lot of people, we are sharing a lot with a few close friends. Giant international messaging apps have risen (Snapchat, WhatsApp etc)

* Music streaming up, digital song sales down for the first time (files are a nuisance; streaming is easier)

* Huge interest in cryptocurrencies (eg. bitcoin)

* Photo sharing is huge – we also upload fitness, events and computer code

* Decreasing cost of digital storage

* 84% of mobile owners use devices while watching TV

* Viewers are ditching traditional TV for online video content

* TV channels growing fast as mobile apps

* YouTube channels have huge reach and growth; YouTube stars are the new movie stars

* Rise of BuzzFeed (top Facebook news publisher)

* New genre of video – “Spectator gaming” – watch others playing – Twitch is top video streaming site

* Top 5 internet properties are from the US – Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Wikipedia – but majority of their users are from abroad

* Top public tech market leaders – Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Tencent (China)

* China is becoming a tech superpower with many innovations eg. WeChat

 

Summary of slides (54 slides): http://techcrunch.com/gallery/mary-meeker-internet-trends/

Full report (164 slides): http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends

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Aussie Teens Online Report

ACMA (Aust. Communications and Media Authority) recently released a research snapshot: Aussie teens online (14-17 year olds).

Good infographic: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/aussie-teens-online
Report summary: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussie-teens-online

• 69% of their mobile phones are smartphones.
• Mobile phones are increasingly used for online activities.
• 23% go online with a tablet; 74% with a laptop/computer; 56% with a smartphone.
• Wireless hotspots are increasingly used for internet access.
• 72% go online more than once a day.
• The top 5 internet domains visited (Dec 2013): Google (including Search, Chrome, Mail, Maps, Earth etc); Facebook; YouTube; Mi9 (including Skype, Xbox, ninemsn etc); Microsoft.
• 90% went online for entertainment activities – the most time spent online was at YouTube, then Facebook & Skype.
• Teenagers are not the dominant group in social media forums (other age groups outrank them) – they account for 7% of Australians who use social networking.
• Teens in Aust. and the US are moving away from Facebook (70% in 2012 to 58% 2013).
• Teens access a range of online forums – Wikipedia, WikiHow, Tumblr, Blogger, ninemsn Entertainment videos.

Not many surprises really….and 6 in 10 are going online for research and information! The internet is a natural and essential part of their (and our) lives….more support for BYOD.

Internet ethics?
You may have read about Facebook’s unethical experiment, where it secretly manipulated 700 000 users’ emotions via the Facebook news feed, in order to study “emotional contagion through social networks”. The researchers wanted to see if reading fewer positive posts made people less likely to post positive content (and the same for negative messages). They found that social networks can indeed propagate positive and negative feelings. And apparently we agreed to this “research” via the Data Use Policy when we signed up. A good article for discussion for psychology, sociology and legal studies classes.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/06/facebook_unethical_experiment_it_made_news_feeds_happier_or_sadder_to_manipulate.html

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How good is the internet?!

In 2014, the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project, together with Elon University, are releasing 8 reports to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

 

14 May: The Internet of Things will thrive by 2025

Many experts believe the growth of the Internet of Things and embedded and wearable devices will have widespread and beneficial effects by 2025. Networking of everything and everyone continues through the proliferation of smart sensors, cameras, software, databases, massive data centres, tagging and analytical mapping of physical and social realms. People receive information from portable, wearable & implantable technologies.

 

There will be sensors that provide patients’ vital signs; devices giving feedback on our fitness; smart cities with GPS readouts for traffic and pollution; sensored roads & infrastructure that provide alerts when repairs are needed; smartphone apps for adjusting household heating etc; readings from forests, oceans, soil, resources.  Voice and touch commands will increase. However, there will also be privacy concerns with higher levels of profiling and targeting, as well as equity issues. Disruption of business models will occur – notably in finance, entertainment, publishing and education. But maintaining all this? “We will live in a world where many things won’t work and nobody will know how to fix them.” (gulp) – Howard Rheingold.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/05/14/internet-of-things/

 

11 March: Digital life in 2025

Experts predict the Internet will become ‘like electricity’ — less visible, yet more deeply embedded in people’s lives for good and ill.

Good things:

Effortless information sharing; more global relationships and less ignorance; Internet of Things; augmented reality; political awareness facilitated with more uprisings (Arab Spring); increased awareness of  massive disparities in health care, clear water, education, food, and human rights. The internet may even become “the internets”, with separate channels and layers of privacy.

An internet-enabled revolution in education will spread more opportunities, with less money spent on real estate and teachers – “the biggest impact on the world will be universal access to all human knowledge” (Hal Varian, Google). He states that cheap mobile devices and tools such as the Khan Academy will have a huge impact on literacy & numeracy. Access to the internet will be a human right and with global perspectives, there will be breakthroughs in many issues such as poverty, inequality and the environment (Tiffany Shlain).

Bad things:

Equity issues; loss of privacy; commonplace cyber-terrorism; mob mentality; governments will try to assert political and social control;  people will lose their grounding in the realities of life and work; too many superficial interactions (not face-to-face). Privacy may end up being only for the privileged. The increasing proportion of non face-to-face online human interactions will lead to less respect and integrity in our relations (Bob Briscoe).

http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/11/digital-life-in-2025/

http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/11/15-theses-about-the-digital-future/ 

 

27 Feb: The web at 25 in the US

The overall verdict: The internet has been a plus for society and an especially good thing for individual users.

Personally – 90% say it has been good; 6% bad; 3% both. For society – 76% good; 15% bad; 8% both.

The internet would be harder to give up then mobile phones, TV, email, landlines and social media. Most internet users thought online communication had strengthened their relationships and that the environment was kind.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/02/27/the-web-at-25-in-the-u-s/

 

Upcoming reports – net access & copyright; killer apps in the gigabit age; cyber attacks; security and privacy; artificial intelligence and robotics; corporations most likely to succeed:

http://www.elon.edu/e-web/imagining/surveys/2014_survey/default.xhtml

 

Imagining the Internet

Insights into the internet’s future and past:

http://www.elon.edu/e-web/imagining/#

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Top Google and YouTube searches 2013

Google Zeitgeist 2013

Google processes 2 out of every 3 search requests on the internet – so what did the world search for in 2013?

Top 10 global trending searches of 2013

1. Nelson Mandela 2. Paul Walker 3. iPhone 5s 4. Cory Monteith 5. Harlem Shake 6. Boston Marathon 7. Royal Baby 8. Samsung Galaxy s4 9. PlayStation 4 10. North Korea

Cool video: http://www.google.com/trends/topcharts?zg=full

Top 100 searches picture gallery (good for a quiz):  http://www.google.com/trends/topcharts?zg=full

Google Trends Australia 2013

Most searched – Easter, Melbourne Cup, Movies…

People – Paul Walker, Cory Monteith, Nelson Mandela, Tony Abbott…. Athletes – Sonny Bill Williams, Federer, LeBron James…

Overseas destinations – Disneyland, Dubai, China, London…

What is….twerking, love, gluten… http://www.google.com/trends/topcharts?date=2013

YouTube Rewind 2013

Top videos 2013 (global) – Includes Volvo trucks with Van Damme; Harlem Shake (army); baby & me (Evian)… https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSTz8jpJdr5pn9LFw-pXbg0IOFy2Z_td_

Top videos Aust. 2013 – Ylvis the fox (What does the fox say?); How animals eat their food; YOLO (Adam Levine)…. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtrr-XW7pnGDOwdZ17JEGSFkOKdwRVQE2

Top music videos (global) – Psy; Miley; Katy; Pink… https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtrr-XW7pnGDUy4BaN4z62fL4aWAMtqd1

YouTubers star in a mashup of the year’s popular moments: https://www.youtube.com/user/theyearinreview

The 10 weirdest science stories of 2013

Dogs can tell left from right. Cats – they just don’t care. There are 10 smells – and popcorn is one. Compiled by the Aust. Science Media Centre, RiAus and CSIRO.

http://riaus.org.au/podcast/a-week-in-science-13-december-2013/

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ICT and popular culture news

Tis the season for lists!

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013

Always interesting to see the results of the survey by Jane Hart’s Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies (C4LPT) – as voted by 500+ learning professionals from 48 countries. 1. Twitter 2. Google Drive/Docs 3. YouTube 4. Google Search 5. PowerPoint 6. Evernote 7. Dropbox 8. WordPress 9. Facebook 10. Google + Twitter retained #1 for the 5th year running. Pinterest jumped 14 places to #22. Coursera (MOOC platform) was a new addition at #38. http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/ Analysis: http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/analysis-2013/

Yahoo Year in Review 2013

Interesting videos and images from around the world: http://news.yahoo.com/year-in-review/

Top US searches: Miley Cyrus #1; computer game Minecraft was #4 (high also in Aust). Part exploratory adventure, part creative building tool, highly valued by gamers, teachers, architecture students…watch the YouTube documentary (1 hr 40m) about its development, founder Markus “Notch” Persson and its unorthodox success.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySRgVo1X_18

Facebook trends 2013

Most talked about topics worldwide: 1. Pope Francis 2. Election 3. Royal baby 4. Typhoon 5. Margaret Thatcher 6. Harlem Shake 7. Miley Cyrus 8. Boston Marathon 9. Tour de France 10. Nelson Mandela Short video: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/09/here-are-facebooks-most-talked-about-topics-for-2013/

For Australia – 9 million daily users: 1. Vote 2. Princess Kate 3. Cricket 4. Kevin Rudd 5. Grand Final 6. Election 7. GST  8. Lions 9. Tony Abbott 10. Big Brother. The most checked in location was the MCG. http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/528860/20131210/facebook-trends-2013-australia-topics.htm

Top Bing searches in Aust. 2013

Various categories – from quinoa to Miranda Kerr to royal baby to Sydney Swans… http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/2013/12/02/18/46/kerr-tops-most-binged-2013-list

Top 10 ads viewed on YouTube in Aust. http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/australia-s-most-popular-youtube-ads-in-2013

One minute on the internet today compared to 2012

The interwebs just keeps on getting bigger….75% increase in Google searches; 42% increase in Amazon revenue; 233% growth in YouTube video hours; 250% increase in Twitter tweets.

http://qz.com/150861/a-snapshot-of-one-minute-on-the-internet-today-and-in-2012/#150861/a-snapshot-of-one-minute-on-the-internet-today-and-in-2012/

National Geographic shares maps via Google Maps Engine

Google Maps Engine is a public data program that lets organisations distribute maps to consumers via Google. National Geographic is now sharing 500 of their maps via the program for free. They will overlay the maps with interactive features such as articles and photos about environmental issues, expeditions and historic events.

http://google-latlong.blogspot.ca/2013/12/national-geographic-shares-rich-map_6.html

Drones

Look – up in the sky! It’s your unmanned pizza delivery! The coming drone invasion will deliver everything from pizzas to Amazon products. In the US, Amazon aims for their drones to deliver within a 10 mile range and 30 minute time frame whilst the DomiCopter will deliver 2 Domino’s pizzas. The widespread use of drones has been approved by Congress, starting in 2015. There are of course, many associated privacy and surveillance issues. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/amazon-dominos-and-big-br_b_4373867.html?ir=Technology

In Australia, a drone was (illegally) used during the NSW bushfires in October but may be used legally in the future. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/technology/drones-ready-to-fight-fires-if-allowed/story-e6frgakx-1226748464574

A textbook rental company will make deliveries by drone to customers in Sydney CBD, starting March 2014 – the first commercial use of drones in the world. The textbooks will be lowered on a cable to the customer. Short video: http://www.cnet.com.au/australian-textbook-delivery-care-of-drones-339345677.htm

“OK Google” voice search on Chrome web browser (desktop)

No need to type your search query. No need for a microphone either (currently needed in Chrome). Download the Google Voice Search Hotword plugin and say “OK Google, what is an ocelot?”. It will read out most answers. It can be used for searches, translations, reminders, setting calendar events and getting directions. The service is in beta and currently works only with google.com (not .au), but can still be downloaded in Australia. http://www.cnet.com.au/google-introduces-ok-google-voice-search-on-chrome-for-desktop-339346074.htm

Google barges

The 3 mystery barges being built in San Francisco by Google may be “interactive spaces where people learn about new technology”….or they might just be floating retail stores. They will eventually be docked in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York and will be “curious and visually stunning” exhibition centres with fish fin sails. Gotta beat those cool Apple stores somehow… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/google-barge/

TED Books

TED Books are interesting short non fiction electronic books, produced once a month by TED Conferences. The books are less than 20 000 words – “long enough to unleash a powerful narrative, but short enough to be read in a single sitting.” Most can be read in less than an hour and are available for Kindle, Nook, iBooks. Price: $1.99 each. The TED Books app is free for the iPad and has audio, video and social features embedded into each book. For a yearly subscription of $14.99, you have access to the entire TED Books archive. http://www.ted.com/pages/tedbooks

 

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ICT news and the online world

Some ICT news…useful for sociology, media studies, popular culture, business studies, psychology and BYOD schools….

 Australian Online Landscape Review Sept 2013

This Nielsen report found 16.4 million Australians were actively online in Sept 2013.

Top 10 brands in order: Google; Facebook; Mi9; YouTube; Microsoft; Yahoo!7; eBay; Wikipedia; Apple; ABC Online. More hours are devoted to Facebook per person than any other site and people spend longer on eBay than Wikipedia.

Online video streaming – top 10 brands in order: YouTube; Facebook; Mi9; VEVO (music videos); CollegeHumor Network; Yahoo!7; ABC Online; smh.com.au; news.com.au; Vube (video sharing contests). Men streamed 30.1% more videos than women and most streaming was done by 18-24 year olds.

41% of daily browsers came from a mobile device or tablet and 58% from a computer.

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/au/en/reports/2013/Nielsen-Australian-Online-Landscape-Review-September-2013.pdf

http://www.nielsen.com/au/en.html

 Australian Multi Screen Report (Q2 2013)

This Nielsen report found 92% of all video viewing is on the TV set; 80% of homes have the internet; 33% of homes have tablets; 22% of homes have internet-connected TVs; 65% aged 16+ own a smartphone.

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/au/en/press/2013/australian-multi-Screen-report-media-release-october-2013.pdf

Australian tablet sales poised to eclipse desktop computers and laptops

Telsyte predicts tablet sales & use will eclipse PCs, Macs & laptops within 2 years. In the first half of 2013, Australians bought 2.3 million tablets – more than for the whole of 2012. Smartphone sales continue to rise, with 14 million users in Aust. By 2014 in Aust., more people will access the internet on smartphones than computers. Tablets will follow.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/aussie-tablet-computer-sales-poised-to-eclipse-those-of-traditional-desktop-computers-and-laptops/story-fni0cx12-1226710882032

Most popular websites on the internet for 8 Nov 2013

Top 12 in order: Google; Facebook; YouTube; Yahoo; Baidu; Wikipedia; Qq; Linkedin; Windows Live; Twitter; Amazon; Blogger. Click on the entries for interesting info about the companies – website review, news, traffic graph, website worth.

http://mostpopularwebsites.net/

Alexa top 500 sites on the web

Similar top 10 to above. Alexa ranks Bing at 19; eBay at 20; Pinterest at 26; Instagram at 40; imdb at 47.  http://www.alexa.com/topsites

Top 500 sites in Australia: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/AU. Linkedin is 8; Gumtree is 12; realestate.com.au is 18; Seek is 26; Pirate Bay is 33.

Search top sites by country: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries

9 ways video games can actually be good for you

Mothers of gamers – stop stressing! Play games, increase your brain size & stop aging!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/video-games-good-for-us_n_4164723.html?ir=Technology&utm_campaign=110713&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-technology&utm_content=FullStory

Video games represent the most powerful (and potentially dangerous) era in storytelling

Video games are expressive &  formative and, relative to other forms of storytelling, allow for choice.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-runge/video-game-violence_b_4067069.html

 

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coding Databases and journals ed tech Facebook Google human rights mobile phones

Free article access, Raspberry Pi & ICT news

More free access to online journal articles

Many more research papers are now openly available online. A recent report produced for the European Commission found that you have a 50% chance of finding papers published in 2011 for free, but some experts say it is more like 30%.

The proportion of free online papers is likely to increase in the next few years with moves towards getting government-funded research papers into the public domain. From 2014, the results of all research funded by the European Union must be open access. In February, the White House announced that government-funded research should be made free to read within 12 months of publication. A Science-Metrix study found that an average of 43% of articles published during 2008–11 were available online for free, with the results varying by country and discipline.

http://www.nature.com/news/half-of-2011-papers-now-free-to-read-1.13577

In Google we trust  (ABC, Four Corners, 9/9/13)

Who gathers the information, what are they doing with it and what are your legal rights? Examines online privacy, digital footprints, Big Data etc. and tracks the information trail of an ordinary Australian family. Excellent program for high school – social science, media, legal studies classes, general interest.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2013/09/09/3842009.htm

Raspberry Pi

The credit-card sized cheap programmable computer ($25 – $35) was developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in the UK to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools. It was launched in Feb 2012, sold over 1 million units in a year & earned many awards. It has been used to create a coffee machine, doorbell server, robot, weather information system and many other things: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=15

It plugs into your TV and a keyboard and can be used for word-processing, spreadsheets, playing HD video and games. It runs the Linux OS and the official programming language is Python or any language which will compile for ARMv6. Tutorials are available, including video.

“Developing countries are interested in the Raspberry Pi as productivity devices in areas that simply can’t afford the power and hardware needed to run a traditional desktop PC; hospitals and museums have contacted us to find out about using the Raspberry Pi to drive display devices. Parents of severely disabled kids have talked to us about monitoring and accessibility applications; and there seem to be a million and one people out there with hot soldering irons who want to make a robot.”

http://www.linux.com/news/hardware/desktops/676486-raspberry-pi-one-of-the-top-linux-innovations-of-2012/

Good article about using Raspberry Pi in schools for programming: http://www.dw.de/raspberry-pi-and-the-new-computer-science-kids/a-16699939

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs

Mark Zuckerberg announces Internet.org

The Facebook CEO believes that all 7 billion people on the planet deserve to be connected to the internet. Internet.org is a new partnership with some of the world’s top tech companies including Facebook, Samsung, Nokia & Qualcomm, and it aims to make internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected (5 billion people).

Zuckerberg posted a paper to his Facebook page titled “Is connectivity a human right?”. Internet.org plans to develop cheaper smartphones and tools that would reduce the amount of data required to run mobile apps. Connecting the world is beneficial to Internet.org companies and they have received some flak. However, Zuckerberg has already been involved in philanthropic projects. In 2010 he donated $100 million to FB stock to New Jersey schools. He also gave $500 million to a Silicon Valley charity that funds health & education projects. Earlier this year he launched Fwd.us, a political group aimed at changing US immigration policy, boosting education and encouraging investment in scientific research.

http://www.internet.org/

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/524373/zuckerberg_mocked_doubted_praised_internet_org_plan/

http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/20/4642470/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-wants-to-bring-the-entire-world-online

Google: Project Loon

In June, Google launched Project Loon with the goal of getting everyone on Earth online. In New Zealand, they launched 30 giant helium balloons, 15m wide and 12m tall, with internet-beaming antennas on top. People connect to the balloon network using a special internet antenna attached to their building. The signal bounces from balloon to balloon, then back to earth. It might be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying 20 km high around the globe, providing internet access & mobile phone signals to the earth below.

Google is also involved in other projects that bring internet access to developing countries. Its Free Zone project with Bharti Airtel in India provides free access to Google, Gmail and Google+ for mobile phone users.

Interesting videos & info: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/14/4432262/google-unveils-project-loon-ballon-powered-internet-for-the-entire

http://www.google.com/loon/

The web is dead and the app thankfully killed it – Jeff Stibel

In 2012 for the first time, time spent on the web started to contract. The web is being replaced by more functional apps. Smartphone users spend nearly double the time using apps rather than the web. “In an era of information overload, search is less valuable than filtering….and filtering is done best through apps….download the app and never search again.”

http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/09/ideas-bank/the-web-is-dead-and-the-app-thankfully-killed-it

Jeff Stibel’ s 2013 book: Breakpoint: why the web will implode, search will be obsolete and everything else you need to know about technology is in your brain.

Bing Schools

Bing has launched Bing Schools in the US, an initiative to bring ad-free, filtered search results to students. It’s currently in pilot mode.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bing-launches-bing-schools-ad-100000326.html